Yum-O Dinner

One of mine and Kennedy's favorite things to do during Hudson's afternoon nap is watch a cooking show together. We don't really have a favorite, just whatever's on, and she gets so completely engrossed, I love it. Yesterday we caught a 30-Minute Meals, and Rachel made this dish: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_151603,00.html

We tried it tonight, and man, it was AWESOME! We all loved it, and we are not onion loving people...you gotta try it!

Some bad news, Kennedy woke up this morning with a very hoarse little voice, so we had her checked out and she has strep. She was so funny at the doctor; Dustin was in a couple of weeks ago, for a lingering cold, and the doctor told Kennedy today that she is way sicker than her Dad was. Naturally, as soon as we left the office she had to call him and rub it in his face, and then call my mom to get some sympathy. I cannot believe how fast she is growing up, working the system, learning how to tease...Crazy.

I walked into Hudson's room this afternoon and stumbled upon this little scene...

Talk about melt a mom's heart. They had three blankets on their laps, and Hudson had about 4 lovies. They sat like this for about 15 minutes, and if you know Hudson at all you know what a big deal that is. I made sure they had a nice little stack of books and then sprinted for the camera. Hudson loves to look at story books so much, and Kennedy is so cute to help him. She worries she doesn't know all the words, but he obviously does not care. Love it!

Swingset!

This weekend, since we had some decent weather, we tackled the big job of getting the swingset looking good again. As you can tell, this is no ordinary swingset. It has a glider that seats between 4-6 adults (depends on how comfortable you are with each other), places for 4 swings, and a teeter-totter. It is a monster of a thing, dating way back to the '80's, when Jeff, Garret and I first enjoyed it's pristine paint and the first of many under-dogs.... It has since endured MANY kids, several moves, and lots of wear and tear. I was lucky enough to get it when my parents moved to Ogden, so we have decided to be good swingset owners and fix it up a bit. We have big plans to replace all the wood with Trex, but until that happens, it's paint for now. We spent all day Saturday sanding and painting, and it's almost ready to erect. Kennedy was a so excited to help, she has missed playing on it since we took it down late last summer to move. Despite new work gloves, the work soon lost it's appeal, however. After about 3 minutes of "sanding," she says, "what am I, Cinderella? This is hard!" She noticed my incredulous look, and the sanding block in my hand, and then said, "I mean, what are we, Cinderellas?" She is quite the diva... As soon as Dustin lines up a loader tractor, we'll be swingin'. Hopefully, it will only be a few days and I'll post pics of it in all of it's shiny new splendor.

The "Cinderellas"...

Too funny not to share...

Best weekend ever!

I know I say that every time, but come on! This weekend I went to an overnight scrapbooking get-a-way on Friday, and then on Saturday had my house FILLED with family! It does not get better than that!
My darling, handsome, sweet, amazing husband held down the fort while my mom, Jenna, Trulie and I cropped to our hearts content at an overnighter in Idaho Falls. You know, after being slightly obsessed with digital over the past year, it was really fun to get back to my "roots" and create with paper, plus being surrounded by such awesome gals really inspires. We headed back to Rexburg on Saturday evening, where the boys (and kids) were waiting with dinner on the table, courtesy of Dustin. Now, get ready to drool: Made from scratch Alfredo sauce with fettuccine, chicken, and shrimp, garlic bread, with and without tomatoes, and - the frosting on the cake - BTS cake with HOME MADE whipped cream. Well, doesn't he know the way to a girl's heart???


After dinner, we had a little party for Garret and Trulie's little guy, Jace, who turned 1 on Wednesday. He had his own little cake to destroy, and he held up his end of the bargain. Of course, Jenna's little Preslie couldn't just stand by and watch, she helped too. It was adorable! She will be ready for her turn in about 4 months! Luckily, my little sugar fiend had gone to bed early and missed out on the frosting festival - or else I'm sure he's still be bouncing off the walls. I was sad to have him miss out on that funny photo op, but I know if he were to find out it was acceptable to have an entire cake to yourself to do what you please with, I'd never get him to eat real food again!





Sunday was fun for me as well, I made pretty much every one pose for pictures for me. I love having cute pics of everyone on hand, and I was glad they turned out cute - although with these subjects, no picture is a bad picture!











Kennedy, with one of her very favorite people, my beautiful baby sister Jami





I know Dustin had a good weekend, too, he is such a great Dad and loves spending time one-on-one with the kiddos. He had some play time, as well; he borrowed and tractor and tiller and got the pasture and garden spot whipped into shape, and let Kennedy help him plant some new trees. I hope he knows how much I love him, he is the best! He didn't even bat an eye about taking over at home so I could go play with the girls, and it is so nice to be able to go and relax, and not worry one little bit about what is going on back at the ranch...XOXO Dustin!


PS - We missed you, Nate... I mean "Joe" :)

Mama's Boy...

I know you all think Hudson is great. But you don't really understand. He is AMAZING. He is hilarious, and smart, and loving. And you know what the best part is? He loves me probably as much as I love him. He is a big 'ole mama's boy, and it just melts my heart! He gives me the best little hugs and kisses all day long, and would sit and read stories for hours on my lap. I love to watch him try to put a rider on a toy horse, or study the pictures in a book. You can watch his little face and just about hear him learning, it is amazing to watch. When he get the rider to stay on the horse, or stacks some blocks, he'll clap his hands and say "buh-BOY!" (good boy) It is so cute, I love that he knows when to be proud of himself. He is trying so hard to talk, and it's coming along. I love it when I understand something he is trying to say, and getting it for him, and knowing that I am reinforcing his love of learning. Being a mom is so incredible! He is also really really naughty, which just makes it better. Even thought everyone says he looks like Dustin, he has a little bit of me in him! He is wild and destructive and messy and impossible to take shopping, and the second best part of my day is putting him down for a nap. But you know what the very best part is? Him waking up from one.

Kennedy's Talk, weekend update

Kennedy had to give a talk in Primary yesterday, and she did such a good job. She was so cute, she picked a little poem out of the Friend, and then bore her testimony. I held a big picture of Joseph Smith for her, and was planning on giving her prompts, but when it was actually time, she pretty much had the whole thing memorized, it was adorable. She can't really read, but she recognized enough of the words in the poem that she wanted to hold the page to help her. I thought she looks so old! She took it so seriously, I was proud of her.

We had a really nice weekend. On Saturday, I took senior pictures for my cousin, Vicki, here at my house and around Rexburg. She is so beautiful and photogenic, it was really fun for me, to do the photos and to spend time with her. I found a couple of more great picture taking places, and I was excited to experiment. Luckily, it was the nicest day we've had so far this year, (like 60 degrees!) and a patch of grass emerged from the snow big enough to put up our new trampoline. Grandpa Jay got new home-owners insurance that required him to get rid of his tramp, so we lucked out...It was a beautiful day and we were able to spend some time outside playing. The kids had an absolute ball jumping, and, actually, so did I. It's been a long winter, it was so fun to have some sun!

We went down to Idaho Falls on Sunday afternoon, and I did a few more shots with Vicki around the falls, and the kids and Dustin explored. One thing about the warm weather, it sure brings out the wierdos. There was plenty of interesting people-watching yesterday. Fun, fun!

Here are some of my favorites from the photo shoot...I know, she is serious diet inspiration!!!

Lucky Me

Ok, isn't she gorgeous? I was tucking her in last night and couldn't resist taking her picture, she looked so cute in her rollers and jammies, all snuggled up with her favorite stuffed animal of the moment. We have been reading "Ramona and Beezus", by Beverly Cleary. I was thinking she might relate to having an annoying younger sibling, since Hudson is so into everything right now, but last night we read a part where Beezus is really frustrated with Ramona's antics, and Kennedy was pretty much horrified by Beezus thinking, " I really don't like my sister!" I was so proud of what a sweet, sensitive girl she is. I really am so lucky to be her mom, and I'm sorry to say I take her for granted a lot of the time. She is such a happy girl, and genuinely tries to be good all the time. She understands reason and really doesn't get worked up hardly ever. She tries so hard to be a good big sister to Hudson, always rushing to get him a toy/treat when he is crying. On Sunday morning, I heard Hudson start talking, letting us know he was awake. I layed in bed, hoping for just a few more minutes of rest, and after a minute, I heard him laughing. I went into his room, and there was Kennedy, in his crib with him, both of them just giggling. What a joyful moment for me. I love that they love each other so much. I was worried about that, seeing how Kennedy was queen of the castle for four years before he came along and stole a lot of her thunder, but she has never once been anything but understanding of his needs and loving and protective of him. And she is so smart! Her preschool teacher told me she got the best score ever on her kindergarten screening test last week, and she loves learning. Last night she wanted to watch Conference again for family home evening. We settled on elder Bednar's talk...gotta love DVR - I've always thought it was a gift from Heaven - that is proof. Anyway, my heart is bursting over Kennedy right now, so I thought I'd share. Last night she told me she loves me all the way to space. Lucky me, indeed.

No training wheels for Kennedy!

I know, she's a little old, quit snickering. But she absolutely refused last year and we didn't push it. Well, Dustin took off the trainers yesterday, and she never looked back. She picked it up really quickly, she was doing great within about a half hour. We're so proud of her! She can even get going all by herself, woo hoo! We were SO happy to have a warm day yesterday (relatively) and to be able to spend the afternoon outdoors. We are so excited for spring! We have been excitedly browsing Gurneys.com, our favorite gardening website, picking out plants for the new flower beds we'll be putting in soon. We've actually had a few things arrive, supposedly at the time we should be planting, but, obviously the snow is still in the way. It is slowly melting though, and we are so happy!

Some actual footage of the event...

Look at that determined face!

Now this might be pushing it... :)

We had a great weekend! Daniel and Amy came up from Utah, with their cute little Jace who's just 2 months younger than Hudson. We had such a great time catching up with them. They have been our good friends since high school, and we are so glad to have stayed in touch - it's all them, they are the best. Hudson and Jace are so much alike, just little monkeys the two of them. They had fun playing together and Kennedy was cute to play with them and help keep the toys evenly distributed, and also use her new skill of filling sippy cups all by herself. It was so fun to have some company over for Conference. Of course, we party like rock stars when we have people over, (very late night! Sorry Daniel!) so we accidentally dozed through most of the afternoon session, but thank heavens for DVR! Kennedy had a little Conference Bingo game going on, so I think she actually listened better than I did...she is so cute, she was very excited for Elder Bednar's talk, he is her favorite, she thinks he is handsome. She was also very happy to hear President Monson (LOVE him!) say that he has felt the prayers from the members, because she prays at night - along with Julies finger to get better and Cody to be safe on his mission - for "our new prophet to know how much we love him." It was awesome, I love what a sweetie she is. We ended up having a very frustrating little snow storm this afternoon, but hopefully it will be gone tomorrow...it's April, give us a break! But, all in all, a great weekend.

Hudson and Jace doing a little "farming"...

And here is one more cute video...

And a cute one of Hudson...he is so happy to be out of the house! He is even busier outside than he is inside...he is just determined to explore every inch of our driveway and yard. Can't even look up to say "CHEEE" for a picture...He's so funny, he loves to wear hats, and how fun that he even loves ones he doesn't look silly in...its not even a big pink cowgirl hat and he still loves it!

One of the finer things...

Well, as K & H's mother, it is my responsibility to introduce them to the best things in life, and Cini-mini's from Burger King are definitely one of them. We took Kennedy to pre-school yesterday morning, only to realize once we got there that it's spring break. Instead of feeling mad, we took advantage of one of the only good things about being up, dressed (2/3's of us, anyway) and out of the house at 8:15 am...we caught BK breakfast. Hudson thought he had died and gone to heaven, having his own cup of frosting for breakfast...he did eat some of the rolls, but mostly frosting (I could literally hear BEST DAY EVER in his head). Kennedy loved them, too. It has been forever since I had them, and they didn't let me down. So, if you are up before 10:30, I highly suggest picking some up...Jenna, maybe some day Nate can bring you some in bed :)

Love Shelli

Rhett!

This past weekend we got to spend a couple of days with Dustin's sister Kim and her husband Mike, and their cute kids. It was so fun, especially because we see them probably the least of all the cousins, and I felt like I kind of got to know them all over again. Gracie, 8, is growing up to be so sweet, kind and thoughtful. Paige, 6, is as spirited as ever, a little ball of energy, and so very responsible and a little precocious. The twins, Kade and Allie, are Hudson's age, enough said...Kim is a super hero. Right in the middle of all of that, is 3-almost-4-year-old Rhett. He really just swept me off my feet this past weekend, and I wanted to write about it. He is just a little man, that's all there is to it. He wears work boots and jeans with holes in the knees and wants to be outside within minutes of waking up. He is amazing on his bike, and doesn't seem to be afraid of anyone or anything. He doesn't have whiny tantrums, he just yells and stomps his feet. He is hilarious, and I loved talking to him and answering his intelligent questions. My favorite quote: "you're not the boss of me!" Love your name, love your freckles, love your attitude, love you, Rhett!